As their voices faded, a tiny figure broke off from the darkness near the barn door. Slipping into the stall the child hissed in shadowed whispers, "It can't, be dead! Kouchi was my mother's mare and she promised that foal would be my battle steed!" The girl was no more than twelve years old and her pigtails waved behind her as she dropped to her knees beside the abandoned colt. She wiped the straw from the colt's soft gray coat, still wet from the birth- sack. "My mother promised .. " the girl murmured, pulling the dead foal's head gently into her lap.

"You're not supposed to be here ..." the stableboy started but trailed off. Only a few years older than she, Masero looked down al the little girl and felt a rush of sudden pity. Everyone in the clan knew her mother had died in battle only a few months ago, her steed driven over a cliff by Lion forces in a violent border skirmish. He watched as the girl pulled the rest of the colt's thick embryonic sac from its tiny body. Thin arms encircled the foal and brushed gently at its wet, furry hair. Sighing, the young stableboy decided to let her have a few moments with the dead foal. What harm could there be in indulging the poor orphaned child?

The foal was not breathing, and the girl ignored Masero as he peered nervously at the two men outside the barn. Carefully, as she had often seen her father do, the young girl bent down to the colt's unmoving head and used her kimono sleeves to clear Its tiny nostrils, Her lips whispered prayers to the Lady Otaku, founder of her house, her voice shaking with tears.

Despite her efforts, there was no response. The foal lay unmoving. dead to all appearances, but the girl kept wiping its eyes and gently breathing air into the foal's mouth. Then. with a start, the foal breathed one deep shuddering breath and its large dark eyes opened to stare wonderingly up at the girl.

"Master!" the stableboy shouted, "Master! Quickly!" Kojiro and Daiyu rushed back to the stable, watching from the door of the stall as the little girl helped the struggling colt to its knees. "You can do it," she whispered to the foal "You can stand!" Trembling. the foal tried again, only to fall upon the hard, straw-covered floor with a grunting whinny. "You don't have anything to fear" the girl murmured again rubbing the colt's legs and hooves to free them of the red wetness of birth. "You can make it i'm here - I'm with you. Neither of us will ever be alone again" The colt looked into her face, seeing the love and friendship there.

With a heave, the baby lifted itself from the floor on shuddering knees and looked at the assembled men with wide, fearless eyes.

Daiyu leaned forward, his expert hands feeling the colt's legs and back, recognizing the brave karma within the small animal. "He has a mark."

Pointing with slim fingers to a small pale streak on the foal's ankle, he continued, "It is the sign I was looking for, Kojiro. The symbol of Osano-Wo," Daiyu looked up at the stablemasler with troubled eyes, his finger tracing a thin white lightning strike that travelled the Inside of the colt's gray foreleg.

"What is the omen. Shugenja?" the stablemaster whispered.

"War." The colt nuzzled the thin girl's fingers eagerly, looking for milk and sustenance in the absence of its mare. Daiyu smiled then, a thin and weak shred of hope. "War. Kojiro. but not death. Not this time." He patted the child on her head and stood. "But mark my words. stablemaster, by the time this child reaches her gempukku. there will be war on us all."

It was a time for the families to celebrate their friendship and trust, and for the ancient stories to be told. Stories of another land, where the sand blew in the wind and the water was sweet. A warm country where the horses of the Unicorn had been born and fostered. As the sun descended over the horizon and the youths stood together with their families and their clan. Shinjo Yokatsu stepped forward to address the assembly. Otaku. Ide and luchi as well as Shinjo. all waited for their daimyo's words, hoping for brave omens of the future and good counsel about the battles they would soon fight.

"Welcome, all assembled here ..." he began, and his rich voice rang out across the plain, making the horses' ears rise in anticipation. "We are the people of the wind!" The ancient Shinjo rallying cry swept across the plain, and the people cheered wildly. Smiling, he held his hands up and continued, "The Unicorn must remember our history, as we have done each year since the time of our ancestors. We must rise to the winds during this time of war, and we will be victorious!" The cheering continued as he looked up Into the darkening twilight sky, "The words of our ancestors, those who left Rokugan for the far lands of the west are still with us. Let their wisdom guide us in this troubled time. Let their names be spread again across the lands of the Emperor!"

"Shinjo!" shouted the people on the plains., and horses thundered war screams toward the dying sun "Ide!" they called. ringing out against the empty sky.

Another name swelled from many voices, "Iuchi!" The banners of the proud families waved and fluttered and the cheers swelled, "Otaku!" The names raced like battle cries into the red light of the sun, the loud applause echoing with the blast of fireworks from the castle walls. The scarlet of the flames in the sky burned like the light of the dying sun, and the bright white of the explosions echoed the gleam of the last rays of sunlight on bright mantles and armor. Amid the clamor, Kamoko noticed luchl Daiyu staring at the first star of the evening with a troubled look upon his face.

"What's wrong, Daiyu-sama?" Kamoko was forced to yell in order to be heard. Around her, cheers of the populace and peals of hooves ruled the plain, and another burst of fire was released into the darkening sky above them. Kamoko had grown from the thin child in the barn into a beautiful woman, with long dark hair beneath her brightly polished helm. She smiled at Daiyu, her mentor and tutor, and he looked back at her with a troubled countenance.

"An old prophesy, samurai," he murmured, and she could barely catch his words amid the torrent of fireworks that sparked trails across the sky, "One that foretold Otaku herself would come through the flames of the evening, and show us her chosen heir." He paused before continuing. "But the flames are fading. and she has not come."

"Heh!" Kamoko snorted, and leaped upon her proud gray steed. "Legends, shugenja. Only legends. Let the past remain in the past. Come," she clasped his shoulder in a friendly gesture, "join your brothers in celebrating. Daiyu-sama, for tomorrow we march to war upon our enemies!" She smiled down at him for a moment resting one hand on the hilt of her newly won wakizashi before she sped off to join the others celebrating on the wide fields.

"Hai, A legend." luchi Daiyu gathered his robes about him with one last look at the pale light of the sun behind the horizons edge. "But not of the past. For without the heir, we are doomed to lose this war." He watched Kamoko race across the field, outdistancing the others without effort, her face illuminated by the explosions in the sky.

On the plain, Shinjo Yokatsu smiled at the young samurai-ko and allowed his steed to run beside hers for a moment. The racers tore across the field despite the darkness, trusting their steeds as they would trust their brothers to choose the safe path home. When they reached the first barn, Yokatsu's red stallion was only a nose ahead, and the Champion smiled widely. "You have an excellent steed," he called to her as they slowed. "He will give the clan many brave children" Yokatsu seemed infinitely more at ease on horseback than he had standing before the assembled clan, and Kamoko saw the reluctance in his eyes as he dismounted. Indeed, it was a reluctance she knew well.

Kamoko leapt from the saddle easily. "Hai, domo arigato, Yokatsu-sama." She bowed respectfully, holding the reins in a steady grip. "His first mare has just given birth to a son. Soon, his foals will swell the ranks of the clan" She smiled and her brown eyes were bright.

"The children of the clan are our future, Kamoko. We must guard them well." His eyes travelled over every inch of the stallion, judging with an expert's eye the fine muscles, dark intelligent eyes, and the unusual white zigzag which travelled down its gray foreleg. As if judging her value as well, Yokatsu turned his eyes to Kamoko, and looked at her for a long moment. She stood still and unafraid before his searching gaze until, at last, he turned away. His voice softened, and he said gently, "Your mother would have been very proud on this day, samurai" Her bright eyes darkened slightly, and she nodded.

"Domo, sama Domo." Suddenly, her steed pushed against her shoulder with his head, chafing at the delay. Both Yokatsu and Kamoko smiled at the horse's restlessness, and she brushed her hand against the stallion's mane lovingly.

"So, Kamoko, you have chosen your own name, but what of his?' The daimyo's broad smile was bright and pleasant, and Kamoko looked momentarily surprised. "A fine steed deserves the finest of names, no? After all, this is his gempukku as well!" Shinjo Yokatsu chuckled as he spoke. The small, sturdy man paused and brushed his fingertips gently against the stallion's dark muzzle. "Hachiman. His name shall be Hachiman" he said. Bored and uncaring of the honor, Hachiman tugged impatiently at the reins, and danced sideways toward the barn.

Yokatsu smiled as he thought, He is as rash and impetuous as his Mistress.

The only thing Kamoko sought to catch was glory. And glory cares little for perfume and powder, silks and gentle words; glory cares only for victory.

When she left the ceremonies and walked through the illuminated paths in the palace gardens, her steps were short and thoughtful. Above her, the last volleys of fireworks tore through the silent heavens, their flames raining down over the fields and forests of the Otaku clan. Kamoko climbed the stone steps to the top of the walls and watched the display in the heavens above.

Sparks rained down upon the plains in brightly colored waves and made the waving grasses dance. To the west, a dry storm was gathering, striking bright lightning streaks across the darkness and challenging the fireworks to an laijutsu duel In the heavens.

Voices drifted across the gardens 10 Kamoko, of palace servants seeking for her to come and watch another poetry gathering. Sighing, Kamoko slipped down the stairs and watched the maids, pass by in a futile search. As Kamoko waited for them to leave, she smiled to herself. There was only one whom she wanted to share her honors with. Her steps were lighter and her lips curved into a smile as she left the palace to go to the fields. Hachiman would be waiting.

The huge stallion stood near the paddock gate, and whickered when she approached. He was well tended, a bit of hay hanging from an idle lip.

Quickly she placed the saddle on his broad back and leapt astride. Only here did she feel at home - only here did the rushing call of her blood cease its clamor for batt1e. She turned Hachiman and raced into the wide fields where the gempukku had been held, closing her eyes and letting him find the path. The wind blew her hair back, free against the night sky, and the sharp cold drew tears to glisten at the comers of her dark brown eyes. Kamoko delighted in riding her steed alone, the saddles creaks and the soft hoofbeats reverberating in her soul. She played games with Hachiman in an intricate dance of steps and rhythms, each testing the other's control.

Kamoko cared little about the rain that lightly spattered her kimono, laughing as the drops struck Hachiman's delicate nose. Neither of them noticed when the lanterns of the town died, and sleep settled over the palace of the Unicorn. Far across the plain, a bolt of bright white flame raced down from the heavens and struck the ground without warning. The storm above thundered a warning, but no one at the palace awakened to its call. Given life by the lightning, A brilliant flame leapt up from the site or the blast. The dry grasses of the field sparked into a blaze, then a bonfire. Within minutes the fire was leaping toward the forest, and the precious barns where the horses were stabled.

Kamoko smelled the thick smoke before she saw the racing flames. In the dark, the choking haze clung to the ground in a black veil, and the flames were bright sparks like fireworks within the darkness. She slowed her steed and stood in the stirrups to see a thin line of bright, angry flames dotting the horizon. "Shinsei," she cried, "not the stables!" Knowing there was no way the fire could be completely extinguished before It reached the barns, Kamoko spurred Hachiman. They raced toward the stables. and she yelled a warning cry. After a moment. a bleary-eyed Masero opened the door and looked curiously up at her.

"The barns are in danger! There is a fire on the western plain!" Kamoko pointed at the steadily growing flames. Olaku Masero took a single look at the flames and leapt into action, running for the great bell that sat near the paddocks. With desperate tugs, he swung the thick wooden bar against the bell, ringing a warning to the people of the palace. Kamoko saw the pricks of light across the field as the clan awakened to the danger. "Can we get the horses out before the fire gets here?" she asked breathlessly as Kojiro stepped her side.

Other stableboys rushed from their sleeping areas within the barns, hurrying the horses away from the dangerous path of the fire. Many of them leap to the backs of the animals, herding them to safely in a well-practiced swirl of motion. "They will be safe," Kojiro yelled above the noise of fear and pounding hooves. Running from the furor to stand at Kamoko's stirrup, he beckoned out at the steadiIy growing glow, "But the fire Is headed for the north fields." The wind whipped the stablemasaer's face, carrying with it the acrid scent of burning grasses and the sound of shouts from the fields.

"And if it reaches the north barn?"

"That would be disastrous. The pregnant mares are being kept there."

"Isn't there anyone watching them?" Kamoko demanded.

"No ... no ... none of the mares are close to birthing, and most of the grooms were given leave to attend the gempukku festival." The stablemaster's face fell. "The only way there is down the forest road, but that may already be on fire..."

Kamoko's fine features hardened in resolve. "Then we must be faster than the flames." Hachiman reared violent1y as she turned him northward, and together they charged into the smoke.

The road was on fire, and the peasants of the near village were gathering at the river, beginning a feeble line of buckets and shoveling dirt to combat the eager enemy. Hachiman dodged the heimin with great leaps of agility, his hooves seeking purchase in the newly plowed earth. With brave strides, he charged into the line of the flames, leaping across them with a tremendous effort. Kamoko yelled louder, and urged him onward through me danger, her skin reddening from the wave of intense heat. The roar of the fire was challenging her to a contest of wills - a contest which she was determined to win at any cost.

The hard packed earth was lined on every side by acres of thick pine trees, their frail branches already waving in the hot wind that swept along beside the racing stallion.

The road twisted and turned like a bucking steed, and Hachiman gulped in great breaths of smoke-filled air as he swerved through the trees toward the barn. Finally, Kamoko saw the dark wood of the building shining faintly In the firelight, the blaze already dancing through the nearby trees. As they approached, Kamoko dove from Hach1man's back at breakneck speed and dashed for the barn's thick doors. The doors were warm and she cursed the speeding wind that washed the fire through the forest like a river. Already she could see the fire clinging to the walls of the barn as the dry timbers and stored hay ignited in sudden bursts of light.

Kamoko threw open the doors to the huge barn, heedless of the flames that leapt and danced across its roof. The heat from within blasted her pale face like a furnace and burned the wind from her lungs in an acidic cloud of black smoke. Inside, she could hear the maniacal shrieks of the horses and the crack of splintering wood as they flung themselves against their stalls.

Hachiman danced and screamed outside the barn, unwilling to leave his mistress but unable to follow as she ran inside, hurling open door after door. With swift movements she draped the mares' heads with rags wetted from the trough, and led them through the doors of the burning building. Once outside, the stallion instinctively kept them together and used his hooves and terrible shrieks to prevent the mares from plunging madly into the blazing woodland which surrounded the barn. Kamoko worked feverishly, ignoring the heat that singed her fine hair and burned her hands raw.

Every minute seemed an hour as Kamoko fought alone to bring the horses safely out of the barn's inferno. The roar of the flames above her threatened to choke her in viscous smoke or crush her beneath weakened timbers. The roof groaned from the weight of the fire, threatening at any moment to collapse and bury them alive in the broiling flames, but their threats did not stop her. She went into the barn again and again, struggling for control of the horses against their fear of the fire. At last, nearly thirty mares had followed her out of the barn, screaming as the smoke clogged their lungs and trying 10 flee in every direction. Hachiman danced and kicked, herding them, keeping them together until his mistress was done.

Trembling from exhaustion, Kamoko went in a final time. When she returned she was carrying Hachiman's newborn son, the colt's spindly legs kicking and dangling against her knees. The small foal's golden hair was burned by the heat of the flames and his eyes were wide and afraid. Kamoko lifted the tiny colt to Hachiman's back, hurdling up behind him as the infant uttered a pileous cry of fear. The colt kicked once more, then lay trembling across the mighty stallion's withers. With a fearless "Kiai!", Kamoko spurred Hachiman, turning him back toward the long forest road.

The path was covered in fire. It hung from the trees like wild streamers, in long licking tendrils of red flame. In minutes the entire wood would be engulfed In the blaze. The heat itself made the little trail seem to waver uncertainly, and the shrieks of the steeds were like the cries of children.

Kamoko hesitated only for a moment, then began lashing the horses with a branch torn from the nearest tree, tears streaming from her eyes at the pain she was causing to her clan's beautiful mounts. Hachiman helped, biting at their flanks and causing the mares to leap into a terrified run, more willing to brave the relatively clear road than the furious assault of stallion and rider. Hachiman sped after the herd of frightened horses and Kamoko clenched her teeth against a scream as the leather of the reins bit into her blistered palms. The tiny colt uttered no other sound, his body pressed against Kamoko's as she leaned over him. sheltering him from the wind-tossed embers.

Although blinded by heat and smoke, she clung to Hachiman's back and guided him by the strength of love alone.

The hooves of her steed clattered against stones in the road like the ringing laughter of a man gone mad, scattering the pebbles as Hachiman lunged through the burning forest. Desperately trying to keep ahead of the ravaging blaze, whipped by the wind's fury, Kamoko turned her tear-stained face to see the massive trees behind her felled by the fire. The other horses ran wildly through the woodland pass, terrified by the scorching heal of the inferno around them. Their eyes rolled and their high- pitched shrieks echoed in Kamoko's ears as she drove them onward. Far ahead she could see the opening between the trees that led to the clear fields where the peasants worked to quench the conflagration. In spite of her fear, Kamoko could feel her excitement rise, the battle nearly won. Soon! Soon! Her eagerness spurred Hachiman to greater heights, barely able to keep herself in the saddle as he pounded through the forest with titanic, leaping strides. She clutched the tiny foal, holding its face within her haori to keep the smoke and ash from the colt's nostrils and eyes. It shivered against her chest, and her tears were the only source of cool water within the crazed holocaust.

With a staggering burst of speed, the horses ran forward through the blinding smoke, instinctively seeking the opening between the trees. The mad race was breaking down the mares' endurance, the cloying smoke choking their wind and tearing at their eyes.. As they fled through the flame-drowned wood, several branches erupted in flame and fell from the treetops around them, scorching the horses' hides with white-hot arcs of flame. Kamoko's heart wrenched as she heard their screaming sounds of agony, but not one of the mares faltered. Nevertheless, Kamoko knew the strain of the run was beginning to tell. A dark brown mare was gulping breaths in great heaving gasps, and one of the younger fillies had a reddening burn across its withers the size of a lady's fan. Ash and smoke choked her lungs and Kamoko held tightly to Hachiman's back.

Suddenly. she saw a tremendous limb fall from a tree above them, its fiery branches threatening to crush Hachiman beneath their weight. Unable to do anything, her arms wrapped around the trembling body of the young colt, Kamoko clenched her teeth. She bent over the foal to protect it, knowing that the collapsing tree meant death for them all - herself, the infant, Hachiman and the mares they drove to freedom. Without their fear of Hachiman to drive them forward. they would separate and be lost in the inferno of the burning forest. Her victory was about to be stolen from her al the last moment, torn from her blistered grasp by destiny. Within the deafening roar of the fire, Kamoko was silent. She faced her death with a Unicorn's courage, although her heart echoed the screams of the wounded mares.

But the burning limb never landed.

At the last moment a silvery sword blurred out of nowhere, striking from the side of the path with awesome force. The huge tree limb was no more than paper to the blow, snapping in two like the smallest twig. With an undaunted shriek, Hachiman plunged onward, dodging the parted branch easily. Kamoko gasped in stunned surprise at the impossibility of her rescue, the burning branch still frozen in her mind's eye. She peered back through the haze and saw a strange figure at the side of the path, seated upon a tremendous white steed. The woman's pale eyes glowed like the clear blue sky and her massive horse stood unflinching the inferno. As Kamoko sped onward, the lady lifted her gleaming sword in a warrior's salute, her ghostly stallion rearing as they vanished in the smoke behind the young samurai-ko.

Hachiman did not stop, driving the mares forward past the lines of water- bearers who were fighting the raging fire. Standing at the far edge of the field near the palace wall, Otaku Kojiro raised his hand to his mouth in disbelief. "The mares ... " he whispered, "She's saved them – by the Seven Fortunes, she's saved the mares!" Behind her, the cheers of the peasants drowned the angry hiss of the flames.

Slowing the great gray stallion, Kamoko swung herself down from Hachiman's back. In pain and relief she leaned against the huge horse wearily as the heimin look the golden foal to its grateful mother. The mares stood In an exhausted clump far from the fire, allowing themselves to be cared for by the stableboys who had come rushing at the sight of the horses. Although wounded and sorely burned, the mares had all lived through the deadly race against the flames.

"I saw her, Daiyu-sama .. " Kamoko murmured, her hoarse voice surprisingly steady as the shugenja hurried forward to tend her wounds. Her long. soft hair was singed and blackened, her face covered in dark ash and her hands and arms red and blistered. The shugenja looked into the samural-ko's dark eyes as she whispered. "I saw the Lady Otaku."

After a second's pause, Iuchl Dalyu nodded. "Your courage and your strength, Otaku Kamoko-sama, has saved the most precious children of the clan of the Unicorn." Daiyu watched the samurai and peasantry gather around the youngest battle-maiden as the envious fire began to die within the forest. "You are indeed worthy to be the heir of the Otaku line, and I believe, with you beside us, we will win this war. The prophecy has come to pass." He smiled, and raised his hands to command the silence of the gathered populace.

"Otaku Kamoko-san." he said loudly, and his voice carried over the dying crackles of the fire's last flames. "I, and all your brethren, thank you for your courage. We thank you for ourselves, and we thank you In the name of those who have no voices to herald the strength of your heart." Kamoko smiled, her face beautiful despite her pain and exhaustion, and Hachiman lovingly rubbed his small mistress with his scalded nose. When the tumultuous cheering started again, the horses took no notice, and the young son of the mighty Hachiman nuzzled his weary mother and began to nurse.